I want to create a backup of my instance, launch multiple copies of an instance, or I received a maintenance notification suggesting I create an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) of my instance. What’s an AMI, and how do I create one?

Amazon Machine Images (AMI) are archival copies of instances that you can use to launch other instances. If your EC2 instance is backed by an instance store, you can create your own custom AMI in order to launch multiple copies of one instance, or you can use a custom AMI as a backup solution.